Occupy Chicago protesters march to Grant Park again

CaptionBlocking LaSalle Street Bridge

Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune

Chicago Police detain some of the protesters who sat down to block the LaSalle Street Bridge in Chicago. This was part of a national day of action for jobs and economic justice led by "Occupy Chicago," "Stand Up! Chicago" and individuals from other labor and community groups.

Chicago Police detain some of the protesters who sat down to block the LaSalle Street Bridge in Chicago. This was part of a national day of action for jobs and economic justice led by "Occupy Chicago," "Stand Up! Chicago" and individuals from other labor and community groups. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)

Chicago Police detain some of the protesters who sat down to block the LaSalle Street Bridge in Chicago. This was part of a national day of action for jobs and economic justice led by "Occupy Chicago," "Stand Up! Chicago" and individuals from other labor and community groups.

Chicago Police detain some of the protesters who sat down to block the LaSalle Street Bridge in Chicago. This was part of a national day of action for jobs and economic justice led by "Occupy Chicago," "Stand Up! Chicago" and individuals from other labor and community groups. (Phil Velasquez/Chicago Tribune)

"This is not about class warfare," said Larry Wier, 64, a retiree from Brookfield who said he's concerned about income inequality in the United States. The protesters are creating "an awareness that we as a society have to do what's right for all of us."

Tonight's rally ended with protesters quietly filtering into downtown at about 8:45 p.m. There were no arrests reported, according to police.

The rallies at LaSalle and Jackson -- in the shadow of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago -- started about three weeks ago with a few dozen participants holding signs and calling out slogans. In the intervening days, their numbers have grown; last weekend, at least 700 people turned out, also protesting the tenth anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. By Saturday, about 2,000 people had joined the protests.

Chicago's were among several similar protests in cities around the world on Saturday in which protesters railed against economic and social inequities they argue result from the undue influence of banks and other corporations on government policy.

Sunday night, after protesters gathered at Congress Plaza near Michigan Avenue and East Congress Parkway, speakers took turns addressing the crowd through a human megaphone technique in which the entire crowd repeats the speaker's words.

Speakers encouraged the crowd to keep attending protests and said the group needed to form committees to handle donations of food and money and to coordinate with outside organizations, such as labor unions.

Police officers stood in small groups on the fringes of the crowd, their squad cars parked nearby.

One marcher, Caitlin McLean, a freshman broadcasting major at Columbia College, said she's concerned about the lack of jobs for college graduates.

"Right now, people who have practical majors aren't getting jobs," said McLean, 18, as about a dozen protesters banged on plastic barrels and buckets nearby. "I have a non-practical major, so I'm probably definitely not going to get a job straight out of college."

Earlier in the day crowds assembled outside the Central District police station in the South Loop, where some Occupy Chicago protesters were taken after being arrested in Grant Park Saturday night. Friends clapped and cheered as protesters emerged from the building after spending the night in police lockup on misdemeanor municipal ordinance violations.

At about 1 a.m. Sunday Chicago police started arresting protesters who refused to leave after warnings that the park closed at 11 p.m. Protesters insisted Sunday that more than 200 people had been arrested; Chicago police stand by the total as 175.

One protester, Cathy Russell, said she took pride in getting arrested for standing up for her civil rights and making sure her voice was heard.

"My soul has been touched in ways that I can't even express," said the 33-year-oldAvondale resident, who prefers to go by the name Sugar. "I believe it's my civic duty. I am expecting to be arrested every time I protest."

Many protesters said police treated them kindly and with good humor, despite a widely circulated report on Twitter by local hip-hop star Lupe Fiasco to the contrary.

Patrick Robinson, 24, a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago who lives in Pilsen, said he and about a dozen other people crowded into a tent when they saw police disassembling other tents in the area.

"We decided to try to hold on to the last big tent," Robinson said, adding that the group dubbed it the "Liberty Tent."

Despite warnings from police that the tent would be destroyed if they refused to leave, the protesters huddled inside, prompting officers to cut the tent open and take them into custody, Robinson said.

Chicago police arrested about 175 Occupy Chicago protestors in Congress Plaza just after 1 a.m. Sunday, about 90 minutes after police issued their first warning that the group was violating municipal code.

A burst of thunderstorm activity across the Chicago-area in mid-afternoon Sunday resulted in multiple injuries and a death at an event in west suburban Wood Dale, the collapse of a dome in northwest suburban Rosemont and the temporary evacuation of the music festival Lollapalooza in Grant Park...